Toilet seat cover lock



p 3, 1953 R. R. ROWE ETAL 2,651,053

TOILET SEAT COVER LOCK I Filed Aug. 12, 1949 2f 28 25 29 I I 25 Z3 II" 22 Z2 .22 J2 INVENTORS m/ssa, n. ROWE 10 0 a. SCHUPPEAT fiW/mdzqaewmvxmwz ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 8, 1953 TOILET SEAT COVER LOCK Russell E. Rowe and Leo J. Schuppert,

' Corydon, Ind.

Application August 12, 1949, Serial No. 109,848

2'Claims. (01. 4-253) This invention relates to toilet seat cover locks, and more particularly to an easily releasable lock which is effective to maintain a toilet cover closed against the efforts of small children to raise the cover.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide a toilet seat cover lock which can be easily applied to an existing toilet assembly without modification of such assembly and which, when released, does not interfere in any way with the raising and lowering of the toilet seat and seat cover, which is quickly and easily releasable by adults and older children, but is effective to maintain the seat cover closed against the eiiorts and durable in construction, economical to manufacture, easy to install, and neat and attractive in appearance.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from, a consideration of the following description and the appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a toilet assembly with a seat cover lock illustrative of the invention applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a side elevation on an enlarged scale of a fragmentary portion of the toilet assembly and seat cover lock;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2, but with certain parts broken away and shown in crosssection to better illustrate the construction thereof; and

Figure 4 is a rear elevation of the seat cover lock and a fragmentary portion of the toilet assembly.

With continued reference to the drawing, the toilet assembly may be of well-known construction and includes a toilet bowl I having a flange I I surrounding its upper end and projecting rearwardly of the bowl to provide a shelf having two spaced-apart apertures therein to receive the seat-mounting bolts [2. The bolts [2 extend through the flange H of the bowl and are provided, on their upper ends, with sockets l3 which receive respectively opposite ends of a hinge rod I4. The toilet seat l5 overlies the upper end of the toilet bowl, resting on the top surface of the flange II, and is provided with a pair of rearwardly-extending hinge arms 16 provided at their rear ends with eyes which receive the hinge rod l4 adjacent the bolt sockets l3, respectively. The seat cover [8 overlies the seat and is also provided with a pair of rearwardly-extending hinge arms [9 provided at their rear ends with eyes 20 which receive the hinge bolts l4 adjacent the eyes I! of the arms [6, respectively.

With this arrangement, the seat l5 and the seat cover I 8 are hinged to the toilet bowl by the same hinge bolt I4 and may be moved between a substantially horizontal position in which both overlie the top end of the bowl l0, and a substantially vertical position, the cover being movable to a substantially vertical position while the seat remains in a substantially horizontal position, and the seat being movable from its substantially vertical to its horizontal position while the cover remains in its substantially vertical position.

As stated above, the toilet assembly may be of well-known construction, and constitutes no part of the present invention, except in the operative combination therewith of the novel seat cover lock.

The seat cover lock of the present invention comprises a curved or U-shaped arm 2| having at one end an eye or aperture 23 which receives the portion of one of the bolts I2 extending below the shelf portion of the bowl flange l I. This end of the arm 2| is disposed below the flange H and clamped against the under side of the flange by the bolt nut 22, and the arm extends upwardly and then forwardly until its opposite end is positioned above the flange II at a location adjacent the hinge rod [4. A tubular sleeve 24 is secured at one end to the arm 2! at the end of the latter opposite that in which the aperture 23 is provided, so that the sleeve will extend upwardly from such opposite end of the arm when the arm is operatively mounted on the toilet bowl, as illustrated in the drawing.

A lever 25 is pivotally connected at one end to the arm 2| by the sleeve 24 and is movable between a position in which its opposite end bears on the top of the seat cover 18 and a position in which it is entirely clear of both the seat cover and the toilet seat l5. This lever 25 is somewhat U-shaped and has its end portions disposed substantially perpendicular to its intermediate or bight portion. One end portion of the lever 25 is slidably and rotatably received in the sleeve 24 and adjacent its end received in the sleeve, the lever is provided with an external, annular bead or flange 25 which contacts the top end of the sleeve 24 remote from the arm 21 and limits movement of the lever 25 into the sleeve. A tension spring 21 is connected between the lever 25 at the end thereof received in the 3 sleeve 24, and the arm 2! at the end of the arm on which the sleeve 24 is mounted, and tends to resiliently pull the lever inwardly of the sleeve. Adjacent the bead 26 the lever 25 is provided with a laterally-extending lug 28 and the sleeve 24 is provided, in its upper end, with a notch 29 which receives the lug 28 when the lever 25 is in seat-cover-locking position, as illustrated in Figure 2. When it is desired to release the seat cover, the lever 25 is manually raised until the lug 28 is moved out of the notch 29 and the lever is then rotated about the axis of sleeve 24 until its free end, opposite that received in sleeve 24, is clear of the seat and seat cover of the toilet assembly. The lug 28 and notch 29 may be the lever 25 and sleeve 24, if desired.

A cap or pad 39 of resilient'material, such as rubber, is secured on the lever 25 at the endthereof opposite that received in the sleeve 24, to provide a cushion so that the lever will not damage or mar the surface of the seat cover It.

While the lock mechanism is of extreme simplicity and light weight, it is given sufficient rigidity so that, when the lever 25 is in looking position, a small child cannot raise the seat 'cover 18. At the same time, the lock is easily released by an older child or adult by simply raising the lever 25 against the force of spring 2'! and turnscope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which "come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are, therefore, intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is: 1. In a toilet bowl cover look, a bracket having first and second legs, said first leg being adapted to be fixed to the bowl, a sleeve fixed on and projecting laterally from said second leg, an arm having a lateral portion slidably and rotatably engaged in said sleeve and a free end portion, said free end portion being arranged to engage the top of the bowl cover, spring means in said sleeve acting between said lateral arm portion and said bracket end serving to yieldably retract said lateral arm portion into said sleeve so vas to hold the free-end portion of the arm in looking engagement with the top of the bowl cover, and means acting between said lateral arm portion and an end of said sleeve and serving to hold said 'arm in the retracted locking position against being rotated in the sleeve, said arm being movable away from the sleeve against the resistance of said spring means to another position in which the last mentioned means is inefiective to prevent rotation of the arm relative to the sleeve to a position at one side of the bowl cover.

.2. In a holder for a toilet bowl cover associated with a seat and a bowl, a U -shaped bracket having a first leg secured to the underside of the bowl and a second leg overlying the bowl, an arm having a depending portion and another portion overlying said second leg, means pivoting said depending portion on said second leg to swing on a vertical axis, and means on an end of said other portion of the arm for engaging the top of the bowl cover.

RUSSELL R, ROWE. LEO J. SCHUPPERT.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name "Date 535,578 Frosch Mar. 12, 1895 602,826 Cave Apr. 26, 1898 953,302 Spalding Mar. 29, 1910 1,540,375 Stodneck June 2, 1925 2,157,693 Ernolf May 9, 1939 2,251,770 Warner Aug. 5, 1941 2,431,263 Lundgren Nov. 18, 1947 

